Monday, April 30, 2018

Lucas Cranach the Younger, The Vineyard of the Lord (detail showing Lutheran reformers)

On Sunday, April 29th, we considered a passage from the Gospel of John in which Jesus states that he is the true vine. This is from a longer section that scholars call the Farewell Discourse. In this message, I thank the saints at Rehoboth Church for giving something back to me. I guess you could say it's my own farewell discourse.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

In my faith journey, I've had the privilege of going on a number of international mission trips. These trips are, in part, about bearing witness to what God is doing in the communities that we visit. But witness isn't just something we do, it's who we are.

On Sunday, April 8th, we tried something a little bit different in worship. One of our members had recently started a new job, and he was nervous about that. After we heard the Scriptures, I had a public conversation with this member. We sat in front of the chancel, talk-show style, and he told us about the new job and his fears. Read on to learn more about the story and the message.

When I saw that Easter Sunday fell on April first, I couldn't resist using "April Fools!" as the title for my sermon. On Easter Sunday, we considered two different accounts of Easter morning, as presented in the Gospels of Mark and John.

Monday, April 16, 2018

Every year, on Good Friday, the Belle Vernon Area Ministerium hosts a seven-last-words service. The service lasts three hours and each pastor offers a sermon on each of Jesus' seven last words. It's quite an event. Some people come for the entire service, while many others stay for a sermon or two.

I'm really behind in posting my sermons. This sermon is from Maundy Thursday. It was a small service, held in the church social hall. We had a little over twenty people in attendance. I really enjoy the intimacy of those services.